Democratic renewal

The best-designed policy in the world is meaningless without a healthy democracy. Democracy is not simply a checklist of institutions such as regular elections or an independent judiciary. Rather than a final destination, democracy should be seen as the task of continually expanding the power of citizens to influence the decisions that affect their lives. The Centre for Policy Development’s Democratic Renewal program looks at how Australia can approach that task in new and innovative ways.

Eva Cox Believes that we need to move from counting victims and expecting the victors to be nice to us, to discussing why the present system is both dysfunctional and unethical. And asks, ‘how can… more

Allison Henry and John Warhurst The researchers found that only half of the young people they interviewed would vote if it was not compulsory, and among the reasons given by respondents for not voting was… more

Reform principles In Australia, the State level of government is particularly responsive to differences in the circumstances and preferences of, say, North Queensland versus Tasmanian families. On the other hand, the Federal Government’s role is… more